When a physician performs eye surgery and similar delicate operations, it is important that the hand holding the scalpel or other instrument has a firm support throughout the operating procedure to permit small and precise movements. Various devices for supporting a surgeon's hand include support tables, arm rests, and wrist rests. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,378,108; 4,018,217; and U.S. Design Pat. No. 264,875. Such devices are widely used in ophthalmic surgery, otolaryngology surgery, neurosurgery, etc. These support devices can also be used in performing other delicate operations, such as building small models, etc.
A conventional wrist rest most commonly used today is known as the Chan wrist rest. The Chan wrist rest consists of a curved, horseshoe-shaped bar that encircles a patient's head to support the surgeon's arms and wrists during, for example, ophthalmic surgery. The bar of the Chan wrist rest is both symmetrical in curvature and entirely disposed in a horizontal plane above the patient's head. In the case of eye surgery, this design presents a recurring problem in that either eye of the patient is off-center within the symmetric wrist rest. Regardless of which eye is being subject to surgery, the surgeon must often adopt uncomfortable and unsuitable wrist and hand positions to accomplish a given surgical maneuver. The alternative is to place the patient in an equally uncomfortable position to situate the eye to be operated upon in a suitable location where the surgeon can reach it comfortably.
There is a need for a support device that permits a surgeon or other operator to comfortably rest his or her hand on the support device while directing procedures to a non-centered portion of an object worked upon (“work object”), such as a patient's eye or side of the head.